The present disclosure relates generally to the field of molds (e.g., molds for an injecting molding process, etc.). More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a storage device that is provided for storing information about the mold and the mold history.
During the life of an injection mold, repeated cycles may result in damage to the mold. The damage may be general wear caused by flowing material or may include more significant gouges, pits, nicks, or other surface defects. Such damage may require the mold to be repaired and/or replaced. To make such repairs and/or replacement, mold design files are often relied upon. Typically, mold design files are stored as electronic files. Over the life of a mold, the design files may be lost or destroyed or otherwise separated from the mold, resulting in costly re-design if the mold has to be replaced.
Thus, there is a need to provide a system for storing information with a mold. There is also a need to provide a storage device for an electronic mold design file that is housed within the mold. There is further a need to provide a storage device that interface with an external computer so that the information stored may be used to replace or repair a damaged mold. Further still, there is a need to provide a storage device that records information about the mold process over the life of the mold. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a storage device that addresses one or more of the these needs or any other needs.